Arts & Entertainment

Gala Officially Opens Valley Performing Arts Center

A variety of performers, many with ties to the Valley and CSUN, put on a show for eager arts patrons during the black-tie fundraiser.

Valley patrons of performing arts, hungry for a first-class performance center, got a smorgasbord of entertainment on which to feast. For a minimum of $1,000 a ticket, about 1,700 supporters of the new Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge, were treated to broad array of talent during the Inaugural Gala Performance on Saturday night.

Starting with a brass fanfare worthy of a medieval epic blockbuster, dancers, singers, actors, musicians and comedians showed that the new facility was perfectly suited to each of their talents. The program was to be a "celebration of artistic possibilities," said actor Benjamin Bratt, while sharing the stage with Calista Flockhart.

CSUN president Jolene Koester, exulted: "Just look at this place. Isn't it magnificent." She proclaimed that the opening of the $125 million facility will usher in "a new era for the arts in this part of Los Angeles."

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Many of the night's performers proudly proclaimed their association with the Valley and with CSUN.

Monica Mancini, who received thunderous applause for her rendition of "Moon River," pointed out that her father, Henry Mancini, had composed the song only a couple of blocks away, in the home where she grew up.

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Comedian Cheech Marin, chosen an outstanding CSUN alum in 2004, said he never dreamed he would be so honored when he was a student at the former Valley State College, cutting classes and smoking pot.

Opera star Carol Vaness dedicated an aria to Dr. David Scott, head of CSUN's opera division, and credited him with much of her success.

Northridge resident Nancy Cartwright, an ardent supporter of the new center, used her famous Bart Simpson voice to present college president Koester. "That's the first time I've ever been introduced by a live cartoon character," she said.

Actors Tyne Daly, Keith David, Jane Kaczmarek, Steven Weber, Noah Wyle and Bratt opened and closed the two-hour show with the words of William Shakespeare. The opening, from Henry V, invoked the muse of fire. The closing, a more familiar soliloquy from A Midsummer Night's Dream, begged the indulgence of the audience on behalf of the performers.

Also included in the night's performance was trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and actor Andy Garcia, who once played the musician in an HBO movie, For Love or Country.  In one number, Garcia accompanied Sandoval  on bongo drums.

Others who took the stage included saxophonists Dave Koz and Tom Scott, singer Davis Gaines, tenor Andrew Lunsford, actor Doris Roberts, drummers Danny Yamamoto and Johnny Mori, ballet stars Gillian Murphy and Jose Manuel Carreno, the CSUN Jazz "A" Band and CSUN's Northridge Singers.

All were greeted by an appreciative audience enjoying seats nearly as spacious as airline business class accommodations, including a generous amount of legroom.

The performance, sandwiched between a cocktail reception and a dinner dance, was expected to raise more than $1 million toward construction costs. Prior to the show, attendees in tuxedos and dressy gowns were pressed shoulder-to-shoulder in the building lobby as they nibbled on hors d'oeuvres and sipped wine.

The Valley Performing Arts Center and its acoustically engineered Great Hall were built over two and a half years with a combination of public funds and private donations. The building and the hall are expected to take on new names at some point in the future when naming rights are sold.


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